Archive for 2023
June 21, 2023
MAYBE NOT THE TOUGHEST CALL…: Trump Predicted Hunter Biden’s Sweetheart Deal.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Related: Can you say Banana Republic? I knew that you could. And not the store.
Ep. 5 As in most of the developing world, it's safer to be the president's son than his opponent. pic.twitter.com/AtRRaxYSjs
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 20, 2023
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: I Paid for Free Speech at Arizona State: The university is firing me for organizing an event featuring Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager.
I thought that Arizona State University, my alma mater and employer, was different from other schools when it came to free speech. In 2011 the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression awarded ASU a “green light” rating for its written policies on freedom of expression. The university happily complied when FIRE suggested it adopt the Chicago Principles and protect the “free, robust and uninhibited sharing of ideas among all members of the University’s community.” The ASU Barrett Honors College has even been home to heterodox initiatives like the T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development, where I served as executive director for the last two years.
But beneath ASU’s written commitment to intellectual diversity lies a deep hostility toward divergent views. The latest trouble started in February when the Lewis Center hosted Robert Kiyosaki, Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk for an event on “Health, Wealth, and Happiness.” This nonpartisan program was part of a popular speaker series focused on connecting students with professionals who can offer career and life advice.
At the names of Messrs. Prager and Kirk, the faculty of ASU’s honors college were outraged. Thirty-nine of its 47 faculty signed a letter to the dean condemning the event on grounds that the speakers are “purveyors of hate who have publicly attacked women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, [and] institutions of our democracy.” The signers decried ASU “platforming and legitimating” their views, describing Messrs. Prager and Kirk as “white nationalist provocateurs” whose comments would undermine the value of democratic exchange by marginalizing the school’s most vulnerable students.
The faculty protests extended beyond the letter. Professors spent precious class time denouncing the program. On Twitter they lamented the university’s willingness to allow donor input on campus events. Mr. Prager received a death threat, forcing municipal and campus police to enact extensive security measures.
The event’s topic made no difference to the faculty protesting it. The political views of Messrs. Prager and Kirk rendered both men personae non grata on any issue. The message to students was clear: Nuance is impossible in the presence of “wrongthink”; the offender must either comply or face sweeping castigation.
The university administration’s position on the event was no secret. All advertising about “Health, Wealth, and Happiness” was scrubbed from campus walls and digital flyers. Behind closed doors, deans pressured me to postpone the event indefinitely. I was warned that if the speakers made any political statements, it wouldn’t be in the Lewis Center’s “best interests,” which I interpreted as a threat.
I ignored their threats and the event was a resounding success—1,500 people attended in person, another 24,000 joined us online. There were no protests, no disturbances, and no traumatized students. But the faculty’s illiberal tantrum was devastatingly effective on two fronts.
First, the scare tactics worked on undergraduates. Many students told me they were intimidated by professors into not attending. Some would attend only if we promised that cameras wouldn’t face the audience. Students worried that attending or expressing interest in the event would hurt them academically. Grades for ambiguous things like “class participation” give professors the ability to punish students for their politics. The success of professors’ fearmongering was reflected in the audience, where older attendees outnumbered the students.
Second, the event cost its organizers dearly. Shortly after “Health, Wealth, and Happiness,” Lin Blake, the events operations manager at ASU Gammage Theater, was fired by ASU Gammage. Before her firing, Ms. Blake told me that she was “berated by ASU Gammage leadership for coordinating an event that did not align with the values of ASU Gammage.” And as of June 30, ASU will dismantle the Lewis Center and terminate my position as its executive director. Barrett Honors College leadership told me this is purely a business decision, despite my raising more than $500,000 in the last year through the center.
Arizona’s legislature should be asking questions and cutting budgets.
YOU ARE THE CARBON THEY WANT TO ELIMINATE: Politco: Hospitals Turning into ‘Climate Change Fighting Machines’ – Limiting water with ‘timers for operating room sinks’ – ‘More Earth-friendly drugs’ – Reducing ‘anesthetic gas’ – ‘Decarbonize U.S. health care’.
I want hospitals that fight DISEASE not unproven theological monsters.
SETTLED SCIENCE ISN’T SCIENCE. IT’S RELIGION: Gad Saad on the dangers of believing in “settled” science.
SLAPS IN THE FACE USED TO BE A CHALLENGE TO A DUEL: Hunter Biden’s deal is a slap in the face.
THERE’S A LOT OF THAT GOING ON: Fake pushback: Texas passes law banning DEI at the state universities.
WAVES FROM NOT-DENVER: Remote Workers Leaving Democratic Cities in Droves.
THIS IS A MACRO AGGRESSION: Biden Administration Gave $2M to University’s ‘Microaggression Monitoring’ Efforts.
I HIGHLY ADVISE IT: If You Work for the FBI, Quit Your Job.
AND THEY’RE ALL MORE OR LESS INSANE: The ‘Get Trump’ Games Continue.
They don’t get that “winning” means they lose. Hard.
ALL OF THEM DO. U.C. BERKLEY JUST RECORDED IT: Files Show UC-Berkeley Ranked Faculty Applicants Based on Their Support for DEI Policies.
THEIR WAY OR THEIR WAY: Senate Democrats Want to Change Rules Because Sen. Tuberville Put on Hold Biden’s Military Promotions.
We should just let them hold their breath till they turn blue. Put it on Paperview.
WAIT? THEY’RE SHOOTING HUNTER BIDEN? “This Hunter Biden deal is to put to rest a major problem for the Biden family”.
If not, the problem won’t be laid to rest.
A FRIEND JUST WENT THROUGH SOMETHING NONE OF US WANTS TO GO THROUGH, BUT HER EXPERIENCE MIGHT HELP OTHERS: Buckle Up, Buttercup.
June 20, 2023
THEY USED TO PRETEND TO BE NONPARTISAN, BUT THEY’RE LEFTIST HACKS: Justice Alito Preempts ProPublica “Investigative Journalism.”
ProPublica’s latest research target is (you guessed it) Justice Alito. On Friday, ProPublica contacted Justice Alito, and asked him to respond to questions by a deadline of noon EDT Tuesday. Justice Alito provided such a response–in the Wall Street Journal.
Alito’s decision was a masterstroke. Rather than providing comments to ProPublica, which can be cherry-picked and quoted out of context, Alito spoke directly to the public. Indeed, I long ago decided that if any outlet was running a hit job on me, and asks me for comment, I would pre-empt their story and post my reply on the blog. Alas, most of the hit jobs on me never both seeking comment. But such is life.
Why did Alito speak directly to the public? Because there is a sustained movement to destroy the Supreme Court. In the past, the Court could have expected members of the Bar and the Academy to defend the Court. But no longer. Because five justices had the audacity to let the people cast votes on abortion (and in the past year, that decision has overwhelmingly resounded in favor of Democrats), the Supreme Court must be obliterated. I think several of the Court’s moderates and swinging left this term to forestall more attacks. Who would have predicted that Justice Sotomayor would the Justice in the majority the most on 6-3 “conservative” Court? Stay tuned for the affirmative action cases.
I have described Justice Alito as the heart of the Supreme Court. He defends the Supreme Court in ways that Chief Justice Roberts simply cannot.
Plus: “And who are you going to believe? ProPublica’s shoddy reporting in the past has undermined any benefit of the doubt.”
ProPublica is as trustworthy and accurate as Media Matters these days, which is to say only by accident.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:
Children with dynamite attempt to blow-up packed grocery store
This should be the top story, this could've killed scores of people…@ATFPhiladelphia @FBIPhiladelphia https://t.co/7b7lebzqKw
— PhillyCrimeUpdate (@PhillyCrimeUpd) June 20, 2023
OPEN THREAD: Take the ball and run with it.
FEEL GOOD HEADLINE OF THE DAY: UN climate talks hit by bullying and harassment allegations.
Female delegates at UN climate talks allege they were bullied, abused and sexually harassed by male negotiators, casting a deeper shadow over this year’s COP28 summit. Delegates at the UN talks in Bonn this month told the Financial Times of several instances where female delegates faced intimidation or harassment from male counterparts, prompting a letter of protest from two dozen countries worried about abusive behaviour. . .
The allegations are a further blow for the UN climate talks, which will culminate at the end of this year at COP28 in the UAE, a petrostate.
One female negotiator from a G20 country said there was a “culture problem” when it came to the UN conferences, arguing they were marred by “a lot of toxic alpha male behaviour”. “It is very aggressive,” she added. “Men behave worse when they are at these conferences. It is like the wild wild west.”
I’d cut the guys some slack — they’re under enormous pressure, what with the world coming to an end tomorrow:
AS LONG AS THE CHECKS KEEP CLEARING: Boeing CEO says company still committed to Starliner.
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Hunter Avoids Jail Time After Pleading Biden.
WITH DNC IN MIND, CITY BANS CARRYING OF URINE, FECES: Transgender Activists Make ‘Urine Protests’ a Thing.
Trans activists left over 60 bottles of piss outside the offices of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)… to protest the government watchdog’s policy on trans access to public facilities.
Masked representatives of the anonymous group Pissed Off Trannies (POT) ceremonially delivered the urine to the EHRC offices in Westminster, London and staged what they described as a “piss-in”.
One member pissed herself in her bejewelled gown, before pouring bottles of urine on herself and the pavement outside the building, all the while shouting: “The EHRC has blood on its hands and piss on its streets”.
The activist, speaking to VICE on the condition of anonymity, described the dramatic action as “an extreme version of the public embarrassment that trans people experience on a daily basis, using the toilet that either doesn’t fit with their gender or using the one that does, and then facing the backlash of people’s judgement”.
The Weimar Republic called and said to turn it down a notch or ten.
(Classical reference in headline.)
A WHISTLEBLOWER RAISED SAFETY CONCERNS ABOUT OCEANGATE’S SUBMERSIBLE IN 2018. THEN HE WAS FIRED:
The director of marine operations at OceanGate, the company whose submersible went missing Sunday on an expedition to the Titanic in the North Atlantic, was fired after raising concerns about its first-of-a-kind carbon fiber hull and other systems before its maiden voyage, according to a filing in a 2018 lawsuit first reported by Insider and New Republic.
David Lochridge was terminated in January 2018 after presenting a scathing quality control report on the vessel to OceanGate’s senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is on board the missing vessel.
According to a court filing by Lochridge, the preamble to his report read: “Now is the time to properly address items that may pose a safety risk to personnel. Verbal communication of the key items I have addressed in my attached document have been dismissed on several occasions, so I feel now I must make this report so there is an official record in place.”
The report detailed “numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns,” according to the filing. These included Lochridge’s worry that “visible flaws” in the carbon fiber supplied to OceanGate raised the risk of small flaws expanding into larger tears during “pressure cycling.” These are the huge pressure changes that the submersible would experience as it made its way and from the deep ocean floor. He noted that a previously tested scale model of the hull had “prevalent flaws.”
Carbon fiber composites can be stronger and lighter than steel, making a submersible naturally buoyant. But they can also be prone to sudden failure under stress. The hull that Lochridge was writing about was made by Spencer Composites, the only company to have previously made a carbon fiber hull for a manned submersible. (That submersible was commissioned by explorer Steve Fossett for a record-breaking dive, but he died in a light aircraft crash before it could be used.)
IT DOESN’T LOOK ESPECIALLY “PENIS-LIKE” TO ME, NOR DOES THE CARVING ON IT: This Ancient Blob May Be The Oldest Phallic Depiction Ever Found. Some scientists agree with me: “It’s not even like the object screams ‘sexual organ’. Boston University archaeologist Curtis Runnels, who was not involved in the recent study, told Science the ornament looks ‘rather shapeless’, and at first glance, it’s hard to disagree.”
Plus: “Compared to a full-body artwork, detecting a lone penis can be tricky work, especially when a phallic-like artifact could have more than one use. A curious-looking wooden tool described earlier this year, for instance, could be a 2,000-year-old dildo, or it could be a drop spindle used to spin fiber. Hey, maybe it was both.”